Letting go
by Ashley 'n' Jaimee
Summary: Sharpay blinked back tears. How would she ever convince this silly woman to cherish her man' A short Gabriella/Sharpay oneshot with hints of Troyella and Rypay brother and sister relashionship Written by JAIMEE xoxox


**Letting Go**

**A Short Gabriella/Sharpay ****oneshot**

Sharpay opened the door to the register office and took a deep breath. Her family and friends had urged her not to do this alone but she had insisted and now here she was.

She went to the receptionist and said: "I'm here to register a death."

The receptionist smiled sympathetically and asked a few more details. Sharpay answered the questions with a braver heart than she had expected, then went to the small waiting area.

It was deserted apart from a young, beautiful woman rocking a small baby.

Sharpay sat down and closed her eyes, welcoming the opportunity for a few moments' quiet reflection.

But it wasn't to be.

"Thank goodness." Came a voice. "It's taken ages to get this little devil to nod off."

Sharpay opened her eyes and gave a faint smile, hoping it would be enough to stop any further conversation.

"It's not easy bringing him up on your own," the beautiful woman said. "I might as well be. He's already three weeks old and his father hasn't changed a single diaper."

Sharpay twisted her mouth in a show of disapproval. It was all the encouragement the woman needed to carry on moaning.

"I mean it's not like he's working." She said. "He just sits around the house applying for jobs, but I know he's just loafing about."

"That's awful." Said Sharpay; having realized that no amount of ignoring this woman was going to keep her quiet.

"I know." She said.

"During my pregnancy he was mad keen. He read baby books and swore he'd be a hands-on dad. More like hands-off!"

The woman waited for a response, then carried on regardless.

"Every day I think he's going to get better." She said. "He does play with the baby but it's just not enough. The man is plain lazy. I bet you fella isn't like that."

The assumption sent a shiver all the way down Sharpay's spine.

"Uh, no." she said.

"I thought not." Said the woman. "And get this. He told me this morning that he'd like the baby to be names after him! I asked him whether he really wanted a son called shit-head but he didn't get the joke."

She laughed, and then carried on: "I'm not having it though. I'm not naming my boy after his dad. If Troy doesn't like it, he can clear off. He's useless anyway."

Sharpay glared at her.

"You don't mean that." She said.

"I do." replied the woman.

"No." said Sharpay firmly. "You don't."

At last her companion seemed to have been silenced.

"You could try talking to him" suggested Sharpay.

"Is that what you would do?" asked the woman.

"Yes," said Sharpay. "I'd love to."

She had said too much. At first she thought the woman was so self-obsessed that she wouldn't have noticed, but suddenly she asked in a low voice: "Why are you here then?"

Sharpay swallowed hard and hoped she was about to do the right thing. She hadn't even talked to her closest friends and family about it in any detail and yet here she was on the verge on telling a complete stranger.

"My twin brother was hit by a car last week." She said. "It killed him instantly."

She was surprised by how bluntly she had put it. She continued: "He was on his lunch break when a little girl ran into the road, just as this idiot in a BMW zoomed around the corner."

A witness said Ryan didn't give it a moment's thought. He raced in front of the car and pushed the girl to safety. Of course it was too late for him…"

Suddenly her tears came. The woman reached out a hand to take hold of hers.

Sharpay managed to talk through her sobs.

"He was such a good man." She said. "He died a hero but why couldn't he have gone on and been _my_ hero? It's not fair."

Just then the receptionist spoke.

"Gabriella Bolton?" she said. "The registrar will see you now."

Gabriella gave Sharpay's hand a squeeze before releasing it. Sharpay managed a weak smile.

As she disappeared down the corridor, Sharpay suspected her story would just be something Gabriella might recount to her friends.

But at least she had finally spoken to someone about Ryan, even if it had been a stranger.

And apart from her grief, she was beginning to understand what had made her particularly upset about Ryan's death.

Everyone kept going on about what a hero he had been to save the girl, yet no-one seemed to have recognized the ordinary hero he had been every day. The one she had cherished so deeply. The one she missed so much.

Sharpay wasn't sure how long she'd been crying when a screaming baby jerked her back to reality. Gabriella was back standing in front of her.

"Sorry." She said. "I didn't catch your name."

"Sharpay." She replied.

"Well Sharpay," Gabriella said. "I hope you don't mind but…"

Seeming lost for words, Gabriella handed her a sheet of paper. Sharpay realized it was a birth certificate she'd just been given for her baby.

The surname 'Bolton' leapt out, but then she saw what had been typed beside it.

"Ryan Troy," she read aloud, stunned.

"Yes." Gabriella smiled. "In memory of your brother and because you're right – I should give my Troy a chance to be the sort of person your Ryan was to you."

The she said: "Thank you Sharpay. It's been so good to talk to you."

"Yes." Said Sharpay. "And you too."

As Gabriella walked off with her little Ryan, in her arms Sharpay realized that she really meant it.


End file.
